


A pair of socks

by MiraMara



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Boys Kissing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Mild Hurt/Comfort, Morning After, Morning Cuddles, Naked Cuddling, Shrieking Shack, Socks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26643742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMara/pseuds/MiraMara
Summary: It's the morning after the full moon and Remus's birthday and Sirius is there when he wakes up.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 75





	A pair of socks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SlytherinsLamp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinsLamp/gifts).



> I have spent over a year writing a multi-chapter fic all for it to fall apart at the eleventh hour. It did not want to be completed! How I have toiled and anguished. One day I will finish it and it will be yours. But for today, on this very special day, have a fic that I wrote in one night.

The morning after was always the worst. When Remus's whole body ached from the bone breaking transformation and the horrors from the night before were still held at bay. The soft glow of light littering the floor looked too much like hope after the blood-shed and Remus turned his face away.

He was met instead with soft skin over warm, solid muscle and knew he would find no reprieve. The world wanted to forgive him his sins, whether he liked it or not.

He nuzzled closer, unable to keep away. Perhaps it was just in his nature to be selfish. To take what he wanted, to hell with everything else. He could hate himself for that later. Right now an arm, heavy and warm with sleep, was pulling him closer.

“You awake?”

Remus ducked his head, breathing in the sun and leather that was Sirius. He hummed in response. Sirius stroked a finger under his jaw and tilted his chin up.

“Morning, Love,” he smiled.

Remus offered a shy smile back. “I didn't expect you to be here,” he said letting himself stretch out the tension in his muscles and feeling the delicious slide of skin on skin.

Sirius's smile turned wolfish. The irony didn't escape him.

“Where else would I be?” He closed the gap between their faces, bringing their lips together for a gentle kiss.

Remus leant in to it and then pulled away.

“It's dangerous. You shouldn't be sleeping here. What if you get caught sneaking back into school- and look who I'm talking to. Sirius 'Devil-May-Care' Black.” Remus rolled his eyes.

“You love me,” Sirius said, eyes glinting. Remus wrinkled his nose.

“You love me!” Sirius singsonged, laughter and love etched into his every feature.

Remus sighed. “I don't deserve you.” He felt more than saw the tightening of Sirius's jaw and could've kicked himself. Why did he need to ruin the mood? Sirius looked into his eyes and held his gaze steady.

“I love you, Remus. I could write sonnets about your smiles – I know all of them.”

Remus levelled him a withering look and Sirius laughed.

“I do! You have one smile for the teachers. Your 'prefect smile', so proper and polite. Then there's your smile when it's just the four of us hanging out. I mean, usually you look pretty disapproving and you get that wrinkle between your eyebrows – yes! Just like that!” He poked his finger between Remus's eyes. “But then James does something stupid or Pete tells a bad joke and you're smiling again. There's the smile when you have chocolate. It lights up your whole face and I get jealous – can you believe that? I wish you would smile at me like that. But then there's that special smile, the smile that is all mine and no one else's and it makes me feel so loved, and wanted, needed. My own, personal, Remus Lupin smile and I fall in love all over again.”

Remus could feel his heart swelling, too big for his chest, heavy and suffocating. The smile that he couldn't stop from spreading across his face at Sirius's words (did he really have that many smiles?) he now couldn't keep from falling away again.

“I'm still a werewolf, Sirius. I'm still a monster. How can you – how can anyone – love a monster? One day, I'm afraid that I'll really hurt you. I'll do something awful and-”

“Shh,” Sirius crooned, placing a silencing finger over Remus's lips. He resisted the urge to kiss it.

“That's never going to happen. I'm a big, strong dog, remember? I can handle you.”

Remus looked pained and traced the tip of his finger down Sirius's ribs, following the length of a silvery scar. Sirius winced.

“It was an accident, Love. And a long time ago.”

Remus did kiss his finger then.

“It will happen again.”  
“It won't!” Sirius barked. The glow from earlier had faded and was replaced with desperation and sadness. Remus hated that he was the cause.

“You don't know that.”

Sirius bowed his head into Remus's neck and wrapped both arms around him, holding him tight. Remus let him. Selfish.

“Remus,” he sighed, the word imprinting into the lines of his throat. “When will you see yourself the way that I do?” He levered himself up onto his elbows, trapping Remus below him. “I know the man you truly are, Remus. This heart is where you truly live.” He placed a reverent kiss on his chest, right where his heart was fighting to get out. “This heart, here. This flesh is only flesh.”

Remus could only stare down at him, speechless.

The sun was rising higher but it was unlikely anyone would be missing them. It was the weekend, there were no classes to get to, no duties to attend – Dumbledore always made sure Remus had no obligations the day after a full moon – and Pete and James knew where they were. And after the first time they had caught them in a compromising position, they knew better than to come looking.

They stayed that way in a timeless moment, just basking in the warmth of the blanket and each other, wrapped in a bubble. Sirius was the first to move, the loss of his comfortable weight leaving Remus bereft. They both scooted up the mattress so their backs rested against the smooth wooden walls. The room was still cool, it was early March after all, and the only heat outside of the blanket was where their arms pressed together.

“Oh, I nearly forgot!” He bent his head again to kiss Remus, this one longer and lingering until they were both breathing heavily. “Happy birthday, Moony,” he breathed in his ear and Remus shivered. “I have something for you. I had to hide it, wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. Accio present!” A little used door on the opposite side of the room rattled as if someone was trying to get in. It swung open and a small, brightly wrapped package flew across the room and landed deftly in Sirius's waiting hands. He handed it over to Remus who took the parcel, which on closer inspection seemed to be more sellotape than paper. Smiling softly at Sirius's attempt, clearly wrapped without magical aid, he found a corner and ripped it open.

To reveal a fairly nondescript pair of socks. Unwrapping them he found that they were mostly black except for stripes of colour across the heel and toes, a rainbow which would be completely hidden inside his shoes. Nice, but...

“Umm... they're lovely. Thank you, Pads.”

Sirius laughed out loud at the lacklustre response.

“The gift for the man who has everything!” he declared, and Remus smiled again, shrugged and went to put them on his feet.

“Ah, actually, that's not what they're for,” Sirius stopped him.

Remus if anything became more perplexed.

“They're socks,” he said. “I don't know what to tell you. This is their exact purpose.”

“Not these socks,” Sirius said, taking one of the knitted items from Remus. “I'm keeping this one.”

“So, I'm going to have one cold foot?”

Sirius sighed. “And you're supposed to be the smart one. They're symbolic. This sock is you,” he held out the sock in his hand. “And that sock is me.” He pointed to the one Remus still held.

None of this was making the situation any clearer to Remus.

“So this is a sock to remind me of you?”

“No! Well, yes. But no. Let me explain. So, you can wear any two socks and as long as they fit your feet, they'll keep your feet warm, right?”

“Riiight...” Remus agreed.

“But even if they fit if they're made of different materials it wont quite feel right, don't you think?”

“I guess,” Remus said.

“So it's best to have a matching pair. That way both your feet will be equally warm and comfortable!” Sirius declared with finality.

“What's your point, Pads?”

“That is my point. That sock is me, this sock is you. A matching pair, perfect together! Sure, another sock might be suitable and you'll get on alright together but you, Remus Lupin, are my matching sock, see?”

“I'm your sock?”

Sirius smiled wide.

“You are my sock. Happy birthday.”

Sirius was his sock and he was Sirius's. It was a very happy birthday indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> It is far less than you deserve but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless SlytherinsLamp


End file.
